General Writing Sample Task 1 #58
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
You are a student at an English language school in Brighton and are living in private accommodation with other flat mates. You have not had hot water or heating for some time. The landlord’s workmen have tried to fix the problem but without success.
Write a letter to the landlord. In your letter,
- state your reason for writing
- describe the problems and explain how you feel
- propose a solution and risk the landlord to take action
Write at least 150 words.
You do NOT need to write any addresses.
Grammar Tip
Note that the phrasal verb to look forward is always followed by to + ing: I am looking forward to seeing you soon. In formal letters we use the simple present tense rather than the present continuous: We look forward to hearing from you.
Model answer
Dear Mr. Jones,
I am one of the tenants at your property in Upper Lewes Road, and am writing to
complain about the fact that we do not have any hot water or heating in our house.
As you know, we have been living in this house since September and have always paid
our rent on time. However, we have had no hot water for last two weeks. This is
making our lives very difficult, especially as it is now the middle of winter. Last
week you said you would send a workman to our house within 3 days, but no one came.
After calling many times, the workman eventually arrived at the house 5 days later.
Unfortunately, he said he could not fix the problem because the boiler was too old!
We are now extremely unhappy about this solution.
We are prepared to continue to rent your house but please arrange for emergency
repairs to be made. We also request a 40% discount on our rent for the period we
have been without any hot water or heating.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Shannon Brown
(188 words)